Apparatus for producing cigar-bunch structures.



PATENTED JULY 1'7, 1906.

.0. HAMMURSTBIN. APPARATUS TURTRUUUUTNG UIGAR BUNCH STRUCTURES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY l5. 1903.

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PATENT oEErcE.

OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

APPARATUSAFOR PRODUCING ClGAR-BUNCH STRUCTURES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 1 '7, 1906.

Application filed July 15,1903- Serial No. 165,681.

To a/ZZ whom it may concern/ Be it known that I, OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York city, in the borough of Manhattan, county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Producing Cigar-Bunch 'Structures, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to what are popularly termed bunching-machines, and has for its ,obj ect to produce an apparatus in which a cigar-bunch structure may be economically and accurately manufactured.

The apparatus is capable of use in carryingA out a process of producing cigar-bunch structures described and claimed by me in an a plication for Patent, Serial No. 129,200,

ed October 29, 1902.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown more or less diagrammaticallya very simple apparatus for carrying out the said process, and which apparatus constitutes one embodiment of my invention.

In the drawings, Fi ire I is a plan view, partly broken away, s owing the covers of the apparatus closed down. Fig. II is a section on line II II of Fig. I inverted. III

`is an enlarged detailed view showing a 'trough or container into which the bunch structure or mass of tobacco is compacted or compressed and also the rear edges ofthe table and cover andthe sweep-stick. Fig. IV is a view similar to Fig. III and shows the sweep-stick or follower at the rearward limit of its movement. Fig. V is a side view of the trough, showing the indicating cuts or kerfs running parallel with each other; and Fig. VI is a similar view showing a modified arrangement of the indicating cuts or kerfs.

I will first proceed to describe the construction of the apparatus and will then eX- plain its operation.

In the drawings, a represents a suitable surface, support, or table which may be either solid or may be perforated, as an ordinary suction-table. At the rear of this table in a recess is a suitable trough or receptacle b, into which the bunch structure or mass of tobacco is adapted to be compacted. This trough is removable from the table and is shown in Figs. III, IV, V, and VI, as removed from the table. Hinged at the sides or ends of the table are suitable covers. It will be obvious, however, that these covers may be otherwise associated with or connected to the table, but I find it to be most convenient shown. Each of these covers is shown as provided with a swinging lever d, adapted to engage beneath a cleat e at the rear of the table. The trough l) is referably located in a recess at the rear of tfie table and has its inner wall flush or substantially so with the surface of the table when the said trough is in place in the apparatus. Running across the table in a direction arallel, or substantially so, with the troug is a suitable follower or sweep-stickf. The function of this sweep-stick is to traverse the table and compact the tobacco laterally into the trough to.

form the bunch structure. In order to impart a traverse motion to the stick across the table, I referably provide a shaft g, extending across t e table and provided with drums h, upon which drums are wound chains or cords t or their equivalents. The chains or cords t pass over pulleys y' and are connected at their i'ree ends to the follower or sweep-stick. For the purposes of this specification I shall hereinafter designate the part f as a sweepto hinge them at the ends of the table, as

stick, meaning thereby any structure adapted to compact leaf-tobacco laterally into a bunch structure.

The mode of using the apparatus is as follows: The levers d are swung on their pivots from beneaththe cleat e, and the covers may then be swung upward, being preferably held in their open position by means of counterweights 7c,carried by cords Z,running through the table and being knotted at 0. The cord Z passes through the swinging cover and is knotted at o. When the covers are raised, say, to an angle with the table greater than ninety degrees, they will tend to fall outward and are prevented from doing so by the counterweight 7c, acting through the cord Z, it being understood that the cord Z moves freely through the table a and is drawn therethrough by the upward swing of the cover I now place upon the table leaf-tobacco by spreading the same out flatwise and arranging it in the desired manner. This tobacco is preferably placed in rows, with the edges of adjacent leaves touching each other. When the desired amount of tobacco has beenplaced upon the table a, the covers are closed down, thereby forming a confined space to prevent the tobacco from rising up when the sweepstick is executing its movement. The handle p is now rotated and the sweep-stick will be moved over the surface of the table from front to rear until it reaches the position shown in IOO IIO

Fig. IV, where it is shown as entering the trough after having laterally'compacted the tobacco-leaves into a bunch structure which is forced into the confined -space 4formed by the walls of the trough, the bottom r of the trough forming an abutment against which the leaves bear when compacted into a bunch structure. When this' operation has been completed, the bunch structures maybe removed from the trough in any desired manner after first removing the trough from the machine.

In the drawings I have, by way of illustration, shown the trough as provided with transverse cuts, kerfs, or guide-slots g, (referring for the present merely to Fig. V,) which transverse cuts or slots are adapted to receive an ordinary bread-knife or tobacconists knife by which the bunch structure may be divided into bunches, it being understood that the entire trough is iilled with the bunch structure. In order that the bunches may be properly severed, the cut g extends into the block or back r ofthe trough. These troughs are preferably constructed as shown in the drawings, in which r is a block or stick to which is secured sides consisting of two or more layers s of wood or other suitable material. In the present instance I have shown each side as consisting of four layers of veneer.

In Fig. VI, I have shown a form of trough in which the guiding slots or cuts are not parallel with each other, but the alternate ones t run parallel with each other, and the cuts u run parallel with each other, but not with the cuts t. The object of this form of construction is to facilitate the making of the head and tuck of the cigar, the acute cross-cut made when following the guide u serving to facilitate the formation of the head and the othler cut providing for the formation of the tuc The trough b has been shown herein as one form of receptacle for carrying out my invention; but it will be understood that the word receptacle does not necessarily mean a stationary device with rigid walls or removable device with rigid walls but I mean to include by the use of said term all structures or constructions which within the limitations imposed by the state of the art may be mechanical equivalents thereof.

Having' described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

1. In an apparatus for producing bunch structures the combination of a suitable support or surface for leaf-tobacco a movable receptacle and means cooperating with the said support and receptacle to produce a confined space closed, or substantially so, on the side of the said space opposite to the tobacco support or surface and means for compacting leaf-tobacco laterally into the movable receptacle.

2. In a machine for producing bunch structures the combination of a suitable surface or support, a cover therefor, a movable receptacle receiving and retaining the bunch structure and means for compacting leaftobacco laterally, while incontact with such support, into the said receptacle.

3. The combination of a table adapted to support leaf-tobacco spread out thereon, a

cover therefor and a removable receptacle into which the tobacco is adapted to be compacted and means for compacting the said tobacco laterally and while in position on said table whereby when the bunch structure is compacted into the receptacle the same may be removed and replaced by another.

4. In an apparatus for producing bunch structures the combination of a suitable support, a removable trough associated therewith and adapted to receive tobacco from the said support, means for cdvering the said support to confine the tobacco and means for compacting the tobacco laterallyinto the said trough.

5. In an apparatus for producing bunch structures, the combination of a table, a hinged cover therefor, a movable receptacle for the bunch into which the tobacco is adapted to be compacted and means for compacting the tobacco laterally while the same is thus confined.

6. In an apparatus for producing bunch structures, the combination of a table, a removable trough for receiving bunch structures located at the rear of the table and a hinged counterweighted cover.

7. In an apparatus for producing bunch structures the combi-nation of a table, a removable trough located at the edge of the said table and having its open portion in such position as to receive tobacco from the table, means for coniining tobacco while on the said table and means for compacting the tobacco laterally while in contact with the said table into the said trough.

S. In an apparatus for producing bunch structures, the combination of a table, a removable trough adapted to receive tobacco therefrom, a cover for the table adapted to confine tobacco and a sweep-stick adapted to compact tobacco laterally while in contact with the said table into the said trough.

OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN.

Witnesses:

CONRAD Kumar, GEO. E. MORSE.

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